Car Accident Settlement Examples in Texas

If you suffer debilitating injuries in a car accident, you face pain and suffering that few other people understand fully. It can be hard to put into words what you have been through. You may even face chronic pain or lifelong medical issues because of the accident. If you’ve hired an experienced personal injury attorney to negotiate a settlement, you want to know how much you may receive for your pain and suffering. Let’s focus on car accident settlement examples to get an idea of what could happen in your case.

Scroll down to see actual car accident settlement examples in Texas in 2020. Or keep reading to learn how to find YOUR settlement amount based on your case’s three most crucial factors.

Factor 1: Fault and Contributory Negligence

When you face daily pain, a monetary settlement feels like the least that an at-fault party can do for you. However, car accident settlements vary widely depending on multiple factors. Understanding what the negotiations focus on can help you get an idea of your settlement.

Insurance companies want to settle instead of taking you into the courtroom. For them, paying a settlement is often less expensive than facing you in the courtroom. Courts look at the same factors for settlement as a negotiation.

Contributory negligence is a factor when looking at a settlement amount. If the other driver committed negligence (carelessness beyond the norm), they owe you a debt for their carelessness.

In Texas, contributory negligence law determines that a careful driver who was only 55% at fault only owes you 45% of the settlement amount. A more negligent driver who is 100% at fault will owe you 100% of the negotiated settlement or court award. So part of negotiations includes discussion over percentage of fault.

Negotiations for the rest of your settlement depend on your loss factors.

Factor 2: Your Loss Calculations

To determine your settlement for a personal injury case, use these factors:

Medical Bills: If you didn’t seek medical help but have pain and suffering, multiply each day you suffered from pain by the amount you usually make in a day’s work to get your total for this factor. Add how much the visits cost if you seek treatment, whether from a chiropractor, acupuncturist, or physical therapist. Getting your health back is worth the expense. You deserve compensation for what you’ve had to spend to find your normal again.
Property Damage: Enter the amount of damage to your vehicle for bodywork or if you had to take a total loss amount.
Lost Earnings: Enter the total amount of your lost earnings. If you took paid time off, enter those days as non-paid. For every day you missed, add it all together.
Estimated Future Medical Expenses: For example, if your physical therapist estimates that you will need to see him every week for one more year, add the cost of that into this factor. This category is for any ongoing treatments related to the accident. If you plan for ongoing medical treatments related to your accident for the next 30 years or more, add all of what you expect to pay and adjust for inflation.
Future Lost Income: Enter an estimate of future lost income due to needed future medical treatments or recovery time when you won’t work. If you will never work again or change careers because of the accident, consider your new field and whether your new salary will keep your income stable in the future.

Factor 3: The Multiplier

The Multiplier for General Damages: Use 1.5 as a starting point. If you have extensive injuries that will last a lifetime, you may go as high as 5. Still, a settlement with a multiplier of 5 involves severe medical issues with continuing pain or lifelong struggles due to the accident. Multiply your final total by the most accurate multiplier to get your fair settlement amount.

Take your total amount from the factors listed above and multiply by the multiplier for general damages to get your total. The multiplier gives you your final expected settlement amount.

Example of Personal Injury Settlement Calculation

For example, let’s say you were driving on the interstate and suddenly stopped due to a traffic jam up ahead. The driver behind you rear-ended your vehicle. He was writing a text and admitted his fault is 100%. You incurred medical bills for neck and shoulder injuries.

Your physical therapist works with you weekly to regain the full range of movement for your arms and shoulders. Still, it looks like you may need a rotator cuff surgery, time to heal from surgery, and more physical therapy later to rebuild your shoulder.

Your estimated personal injury worksheet may look something like this:

Medical Bills: Physical therapy after accident until now $3,320
Property Damage: Bodywork on your 2014 Honda Odyssey minivan: $5,230
Busted radiator replacement: $305
Lost Earnings: 15 days missed work after accident $2,400
Estimated Future Medical Expenses: Surgery after health insurance pays 40% co deductible: $4, 320
Physical therapy after surgery: $3,504
Future Lost Income: 15 days you may miss due to surgery and recovery $2,400

TOTAL SUM $21,479

To get your settlement number, take your total sum and multiply it by the multiplier you choose. In this case, pain and suffering may last a year or so but not a lifetime. In this example, we may use a 1.5 as a multiplier for a low-end estimate. We could use 3 for a high-end estimate.

TOTAL Low End Estimate = $23,479 x 1.5 = $32,219
TOTAL High End Estimate= $23,479 x 3 = $64,437

Expectations for Settlement

Insurance companies consider many factors when deciding whether a number is negotiable or outrageous. Suppose you have receipts showing your related medical expenses and documented injury records such as X-rays or MRI’s etc., that show your injuries. In that case, you have a better chance of a larger car accident personal injury settlement than someone with just vague complaints about pain.

Talking with your personal injury attorney about what to expect can keep your expectations realistic. Looking at examples may help you get an idea of your future settlement, but will not nail down your settlement amount because of the many factors.

It would help if you also considered your attorney’s abilities because a negotiation comes down to who argues their points well and convinces the other side of the merits of their point of view.

We Can Help

If you sustained injuries in a car accident, at Jarrett Law, we have the experience and knowledge about personal injury negotiations to help you get a fair settlement. We want to walk you through all the steps of the judicial process in Texas until the insurance companies involved play fair. We understand that your pain and suffering are not small things. and you deserve compensation for what you have gone through or will face in the future. Contact us and start the process. Get an idea of where your settlement negotiations can take you and how we can help.